Roosevelt and Wilson: Progressive PresidentsThe Progressive Era was a time of social, political, and economic reform throughout the United States in the early 1900s. Many citizens looked towards the government as the agent of change. Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson are fondly remembered as progressive presidents though their methods were different. Without a doubt, both of these men brought about great change in America during the Progressive Era. Teddy Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States. After serving in the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt entered politics and soon became Vice President. After the assassination of William McKinley, Roosevelt was President. As a progressive reformer, Roosevelt ran his presidency morally, liberally, and equality based. Roosevelt said “My problems are moral problems, and my teaching has been plain morality.” His statement was accurate because a major contribution to the Progressive movement was his homilies. Homilies are like sermons, and Roosevelt made his opinions of morality public with these. In his speech Nine Reasons Why a Man Should Go to Church, Roosevelt points out moral reasons why a man should go to church, like “Church work and church attendance mean the cultivation of the habit of feeling responsibility for others.” Because he was so fixated on his moral campaign, he never thought to transfer his judgments into social realizations. Roosevelt’s constant need to fix moral problems in the United States shows that he was progressive in the aspect of reform. A liberal is defined as someone who is favorable to progress and reform and Roosevelt was definitely this. After reading Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, Roosevelt pushed Congress to pass a law to check meat. The Meat Inspection Act, as well as the Pure Food and Drug Act, was something never done before, and a popular reform made by the president. Roosevelt also started a National Parks System, to which he signed five park systems during his...

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...that comes very quickly. It is a gradual process that takes time, in the interest of our country and the Progressive Era, more than a decade. The presidents of this time, Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson, were like chefs developing a recipe for the betterment of the United States. Every act that was passed, each decision that was made, was a trial or taste-test of the constantly changing recipe for the country. If something angered citizens or drew criticism, the president went back to his office, his kitchen, and was ready to make more changes. Where he left off in the progressive recipe, the next chef took over. He would analyze what had been done, identified his plan of action, and then set to work by either making a few alterations or starting anew. This in effect was what Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson did. They each had differing opinions about what the "Better United States Recipe" needed. What they liked about the recipe they kept, making small changes that they thought would accentuate the product more. The things that they didn't like, they made drastic reforms. Basically, what each of the progressivepresidents did, starting with Roosevelt and ending with Taft, was build off each other's ideas and mistakes, all with one goal in mind: make the United States of America the best it can be.
Theodore...

...a new political party rose and that whole era was named the Progressive Era. This party based its decision on what is right for the people and not big businesses in the economic world. Two major leaders and Presidents of the United States, of this time were Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Though both men contributed so much while in office, which one had the greater impact? Even though their achievements are equal in most areas, Wilson took the cake with his actions to exempt unions from being prosecuted as trusts.
Roosevelt entered office because the current President, McKinley, got assassinated. His personal idea of what a president should do in office is that he should lead the executive department AND set the legislative agenda for Congress. The thing that people remember Roosevelt most by is his Square Deal. The deal favored neither business nor labor. He applied this rule to a coal strike where the coal miners went on strike in 1902. Since, winter was around the corner Roosevelt was worried for the public's safety of heat so he called the mines owners and union leaders to the white house. At the meeting the owners would not give into the demands until the President threatened he would take the mines over with federal troops. The owners agreed to the conditions set by the union leader, but still did not...

...reflected a growing American belief in the ideas of the Progressive movement. This movement was concerned with fundamental social and economic reforms and gained in popularity under two presidents. Yet Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson espoused two different approaches to progressive reform. And each one was able to prevail upon congress to pass legislation in keeping with his own version of theprogressive dream. These two people, although they had different principles in mind, had one goal: to make changes to the nation for the better of the people and the country. Setting out to reach this goal, Roosevelt came to be a president of the common man while Wilson became the "better" progressivepresident.
Even though they were both progressives, the two presidents had different paths in mind for the future of the United States. Their different perspective and priorities were evident in their speeches: New Nationalism by Roosevelt and New Freedom by Wilson. Wilson's New Freedom looked to the destruction of all trusts to promote economic competition and permit small businesses once again to flourish. While the federal government was to use its power on a one-time basis to bust all trusts, the federal government was to have no role in regulating business. Any...

...Theodore Roosevelt vs. Woodrow Wilson
There is usually great debate when discussing whether Theodore Roosevelt or Woodrow Wilson was a better president during the Progressive era. In order to make an educated conclusion on who was the best, though, we must first define progressivism. Progressivism is the political orientation of those who favor progress toward better conditions in government and society. With this in mind, although it may seem like the competition is neck and neck, we can conclude that Theodore Roosevelt was ultimately the better progressivepresident.
Roosevelt, the successor to the presidency after William McKinley was assassinated, was whom it all began with. He focused primarily on advocating conservation and antitrust reforms in order to restore power to the federal government so that it could regulate business. He was also responsible for the passing of the Pure Food and Drug Act as well as the Meat Inspection Act that proved beneficial to the health of U.S. citizens.
As for diplomacy, Roosevelt’s charismatic appeal helped mend ties with Japan in order to maintain an Open Door policy and negotiated with the Panamanians for the permission to build a canal that would not only reduce travel time by boat, but also greatly increase the U.S. Navy’s power. His intentions of bettering the United States surely...

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The ProgressivePresidents
Steve Cavanaugh
HIS 204: American History Since 1865
Kathryn Johnson
May 5, 2014
The ProgressivePresidents
Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were the frontrunners in the 1912 election. This election “changed the country, demonstrating a victory for progressive reforms as both Progressive candidates (Wilson as a Progressive Democratic governor of New Jersey and Roosevelt the head of the new Progressive Party) accounted for 75 percent of all votes” (Bowles, 2011). Although both men believed in Progressive philosophies, they were complete opposites in their political views. Roosevelt was considered the “Warrior” and advocated for a New Nationalism. Wilson, on the other hand, was considered the “Priest” and campaigned on the New Freedom platform. Each of these men held very strongly to their convictions, but not all of their goals could be met.
Roosevelt believed that every man deserved to get a “Square Deal” and be judged and treated on his merits as a man. However, he also realized the importance of big business and the financial gains and increased efficiency that it brought. What he did not agree with was the way that big business was handled and he wanted to rein it in to stop...

...criticism of their reform efforts, Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson's commitment to and success in achieving national reform made them successful progressivepresidents. There hasn't yet been a presidency that didn't receive criticism, with or without justification. Roosevelt in particular, received a lot of praise and criticism for his successes and failures. Overall, however, bothRoosevelt and Wilson acknowledged and were committed to bringing about changes during their presidencies. They were both good presidents for the Progressive Era.
PresidentRoosevelt was deeply criticized during his presidency. Robert La Follette, the Republican leader of Progressivism before Roosevelt, was one of Roosevelt's biggest critics. In his Autobiography: A personal narrative of political experiences, he talks about Roosevelt's reform policies, particularly his position on the Anti-Trust Law and his trust strategy in general, and how he didn't solve the problems, but only increased the growth of monopolies and the power of business (Doc E). There were also many political cartoons published which criticized Roosevelt's policies. One in particular pictures Roosevelt singing loudly his Progressive fallacies, with La Follette sulking in the background (Doc G). There was...

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The Presidents: Theodore Roosevelt vs. Woodrow Wilson
Mike Jones
HIS 204 Dean Harris
February 24, 2014
The Presidents: Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson
Both former Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson term in office contributed to the increase of working class Americans. Each of thepresidents was part of Progressive era, where people mattered. They both had different political views. PresidentRoosevelt was a Republican and PresidentWilson was a Democrat. However, they both have had strong foreign policies to protect the United States allies. PresidentRoosevelt built a strong Navy program and built National Parks in the United States. On the other hand, Wilson wanted to ensure authority over unions. Even though both of these presidents had different views, their aim was the same: to create a better United States.
Both of these presidents were known for their role in the Progressive Era. The Progressive Era is noted from the 1890s to 1920s. It is known as the boost of political and social reform. Further, economic growth through industrialization helped the American people. The Progressive...

...new era was known as the Progressive era; an era of change amongst the common worker and the powerful giants of industry. Two major leaders that occupied this specific moment in time were Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. However, these prominent men had contributed much to the efforts of the progressive movement; each one had different personal views that dictated their approach. This paper attempts to compare and contrast these men’s progressive ideas apart from their actions.
We will start with Woodrow Wilson, in his inaugural speech, he had addressed changes in the government to show favor towards the popular Party (Wilson, 1913). Wilson explains, by asserting that the nation desires the Party to interpret and change the nation’s designs and views. He claims that now the government and the nation’s job are to cleanse and correct the carelessness and ills conveyed about by the country’s industrialization (Wilson, 1913). Wilson also touches on the matters that need settlement, which extends from the need to adjust the foreign tariff, the banking strategy, the industrial scheme, and the agricultural strategy. He also discusses how the government desires to protect its people’s lives with sanitary regulations, untainted food regulations, and work regulations. He stresses that there will be repairs in the financial...